How Great Is Our God! Psalms – Worship In The Real World

Adoration

(Psalm 8 September 22, 2013)

When you are struggling with sin – where do you turn in your Bible? When you are depressed – where do you turn in your Bible? When you need some encouragement – where do you turn in your Bible? When you want a shot of pure joy – where do you turn in your Bible? For most of us, chances are we turn to the book of Psalms. The Psalms are one of the most familiar and yet unfamiliar books in the Bible.

Who doesn’t know Psalm 1 – Blessed is the man – Psalm 19 – The heavens declare the glory of God – Psalm 100 – Make a joyful noise all the earth! But then there are many Psalms most of us would barely recognise.

The Psalms are also one of the most comforting and confronting books in the Bible.

We have all found great comfort in Psalm 23 – The Lord is my Shepherd – Psalm 51 – Have mercy on me O God.

But who has not struggled with passages like Psalm 137:8–9: O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

We see this contrast even within the one Psalm. Psalm 5 is a favourite Psalm of many. But really it is the first half that we like. The second half looks at the wicked and their fate and is not easy to warm to.

The Psalms appeal to every part of us – our emotions, our intellect, our wills, our imaginations. They challenge our faith and restore our faith. They are where we turn to when we sin – when we need encouragement – when we just want to shout for joy. The Psalms were the songbook of Israel written over a thousand year period from the days of Moses to the exile in Babylon. But even millennia later, they remain the single greatest resource for worship available to Christians. So many hymns and songs are based on the Psalms. Having finished 1 Corinthians, we thought that we would do something a little different – a series on the Psalms as worship in the real world. We live in a fallen world where Christians sin, bad things happen, evil prospers, good men and women struggle – but God remains faithful. The Psalms are a gritty, honest, realistic, wonderful resource for how we are to worship in this world. Dave and I plan on looking at a number of Psalms – some well known, some less well known – to help you understand how to use this resource in your daily worship. So where do we begin? You probably know that the Psalms are often classified by their type or their genre. There are many ways to divide them up – I usually think of Psalms in these types:

Psalms of Thanksgiving and Praise Psalms of Trust Psalms of Intercession

Including: Psalms of Confession – prayer for forgiveness Psalms of Lament – prayer for deliverance Psalms of Imprecation – prayer for vengeance

Psalms of Wisdom Psalms of the Law

Psalms of The King

Often one Psalm has features of more than one genre or type. There are 150 Psalms, so faced with so much choice what do I do when I have four sermons to preach on the Psalms? I thought about what types of Psalms might be most helpful to you in your walk with God, your quiet times, your spiritual growth. I actually had a really hard time narrowing this down – but ultimately I thought what might be most helpful is to look at:

A Psalm of Thanksgiving A Psalm of Confession A Psalm of Trust A Psalm of Praise

I think these will cover many of the areas that are worship where we live. What we do when we sin, when we are having a hard time, how we learn to walk by faith, how we praise God. This morning I want to look at one of the Psalms of Thanksgiving and Praise. You are probably aware that this is the largest category of Psalms. Many divide this category up further into individual thanksgiving, corporate thanksgiving, praise for who God is, praise for what He has done, praise of the King and the like. One takeaway from the sheer number of Psalms on thanksgiving is that this should be something that is a regular part of our worship. It was interesting at the prayer meeting yesterday a number of the men commented how we tend to skew our personal prayer time towards supplication – asking God for

things – but the Psalms reminds us that thanksgiving and praise should be a large part of our worship. Another thing to learn is that the way we praise God should vary. In the Psalms there are many different techniques employed for how we can praise God. Have a look with me at Psalm 136. The author of this hymn has written out short one line sentences of praise concerning who God is and what He has done for Israel. After each sentence of praise comes the refrain:

For his steadfast love endures forever. We believe how this worked was in the Temple setting a worship leader would cry out:

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good

And then all the assembled people would reply together: For his steadfast love endures forever.

Then the worship leader would say: Give thanks to the God of gods.

And then all the assembled people would reply together: For his steadfast love endures forever.

And so on throughout this whole hymn – a corporate affirmation of thanks to the Lord. Here is a worship idea. Write your own hymn of praise. Write short sentences about who God is and what He has done for you and for your family. Count your blessings – salvation, church, family, country, answers to prayer – write them out. Then speak it aloud – or do it with your family – following each sentence with:

For his steadfast love endures forever.

Another idea for praise. Have a look with me at Psalm 111 and 112. These two Psalms go together. They both begin with – Praise the Lord.

While it isn’t very obvious in our English translations what happens is that they are both made up of 22 short sentences each beginning with the first letter of successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet – probably as an aid to memory. Psalm 111 is a Psalm of praise for the works of God. Psalm 112 is a Psalm showing how those blessings manifest themselves in the lives of God’s people. Write your own Psalm of praise and then one of response. There are so many Psalms of thanksgiving and praise – so narrowing this down to one Psalm was difficult – but after much tooing and froing I have decided to look at Psalm 8. Why? Because it is one of my favourite Psalms of thanksgiving. It moves from realising who God is – to who we are – to what God has done and the result is praise. It is usually classed as a thanksgiving doxology – but I just think it is an awesome hymn of praise. So look with me at this Psalm. Most of us live most of our days thinking about the small things – what we will do on the weekend, what we will have for dinner, how long till the work day is over. But every now and then the big questions of life intrude. It might be at our child’s birth, a funeral, sitting on some majestic mountaintop or looking into the glories of the night sky. And we find ourselves wondering:

Does my life have meaning? Am I important in the universe or totally insignificant? Is there a God? What happens when I die?

At those reflective moments – most people have one of three reactions. The first is insignificance. Most scientists and philosophers and everyday people have concluded that we are cosmic accidents – insignificant and unimportant in the universe. Many of them have actually become quite depressed at the thought that we seem to be little more than cosmic navel lint – totally insignificant nobodies in this vast universe. The second reaction is suppression.

Carpe Diem – seize the day. Don’t let any deep thinking interfere with your life. All that matters is today. Deep questions can’t be answered so ignore them. The third reaction is praise. This flows from the fact that we are not insignificant – because we do have a place and a role in this incredible universe. And that is what happens in Psalm 8. Here is the flow of this Psalm.

My God is all glorious

He is truly something

I am but nothing

He makes me something

My God is all glorious Notice that this Psalm begins and ends with the same refrain:

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! O Lord, our Lord. Unfortunately, English translations don’t give the proper sense to this great address. If you look carefully most translations have the first word for Lord in small capitals to show that it is different from the second Lord. These are different words.

The first word Lord is the proper name of God – Yahweh. The second is His title – adonai – Lord, Master, Ruler. So perhaps we could paraphrase like this:

O Yahweh, our great Lord. Yahweh is the personal name of God. The point is that the Lord is not just some mighty being or force who created the earth and men, set them on their way and then stepped back. He is personally and intimately involved in creating and ruling this world – He is our God, our Lord, our King. Look at the end of verse 1.

How majestic is Your name in all the earth. His majesty is displayed throughout all the earth. No matter where you live – the majesty of God is displayed. Everywhere you look up you can see the sun, the moon, the stars. And then throughout the world you see mighty rivers, oceans, mountains, glaciers, canyons. You see lions, elephants, buffalos, whales, eagles. Yahweh – our God has shown the majesty of His name in every part of the earth. And – He is truly something. The end of verse 1:

You have set your glory above the heavens. In Hebrew thought, there were three heavens.

The first was the heavens the birds fly in. The second heavens were where the stars are. The third heavens was beyond the stars – the heaven where the Lord lives.

There are many reasons men climb mountains. One of them is to simply look out on the heavens. To watch the sun rise. To watch the eagles soar. To take in the vista of the first heaven.

Then there is a second heaven – the sun, moon and stars. Whenever I am in the countryside and look up at night – I am staggered. The lights of the city blot out so many stars – but in the country you can see them in all their glory. In 1991 – Dena and I were on holidays from studying in the US and we were camping on Fraser Island. We were sitting on the beach in the early evening – and it started to get bright on the horizon. I seriously thought the sun was coming up even though it had just gone down. Finally I realised it was a moonrise – but it was the biggest and brightest moon I had every seen. Later I found out it was a supermoon – one of the rare times the orbit of the moon brings it to its closest proximity to earth. I have never forgotten that night. You feel so insignificant before the glory and awe of God’s creation. And yet notice that the real glory of God is far beyond that of the created heavens. This is a poetic way of describing the unimaginable power and glory of the Lord. We are rendered speechless by the created glory. But that is nothing compared to the true glory of God. Moses begged to see the glory of God. He was told no man can see it and live. God hid him in the cleft of a rock and he was allowed to see the very trailing edge of God’s glory and his face shone such that he had to veil it. Isaiah saw a fraction of the glory of God in a vision and he was left shattered. As much as the heavens are glorious – they are the difference between standing next to a candle or next to the sun. Verse 2:

Out of the mouth of babies and infants. The glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God is so clear that even babies and infants know it. Jesus Himself spoke of what children can know in Matthew 21:16. Little children were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” But the chief priests and teachers of the Law were indignant. So Jesus quoted this verse:

‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’

In the same way, infants know the glory of God in creation.

As Psalm 19 puts it:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

Take your three year old for a walk by the ocean or show them the stars – and they know there is a creator God. Take your twenty-three year old for the same walk – and they sense the creator God – but they suppress that knowledge. Romans 1 says that the truth about God is plainly evident through His eternal power and divine nature in the things that have been made. But man suppresses that truth. We are told all this glory is a cosmic accident. We are told that despite every shred of logic – there is no Creator. Yet – it is a mighty effort to suppress what is so obvious a truth. Dena and I spent our anniversary weekend in Melbourne recently. Right next to our hotel – was the Ken Duncan Gallery. Ken is a Christian photographer who says his mission in life is “To show the beauty of God’s creation.” And since the Melbourne gallery had just opened Ken was there. He spent several hours showing us his pictures and telling us how they helped him see God’s glory. You could get right up to the photos. The detail was amazing. I loved the elephant: And the leopard: And the landscapes: I so wanted to buy a picture – because I saw the hand of God in them. I believe it takes a huge effort to see this glory and suppress the knowledge of God. Children who aren’t taught to ignore God – they see the truth. And so can we if we are willing. We only have to look around at the wonder of creation. The glory of the heavens. They all point to God. The heavens tell of the glory of God the Creator. Verse 2 continues:

You have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

The point is this. When we really stop to look around us, the glory of God is enough to silence the scoffers, the critics, the adversaries of the Lord. It is enough to stop the mouths of the enemies and the avengers. On Wednesday there was an article in the paper entitled: Has the Big Bang Theory Been Busted? In scientific paper in the journal Nature, Astrophysicists from the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada have released a paper discussing a theory that posits that the universe is a three-dimensional “membrane” floating through a four-dimensional “bulk universe.” I have no idea what that means but I grasped that they are searching for a new theory because there does not seem to have been enough time since the supposed birth of the cosmos to explain things by the big bang theory. In other words they can’t explain the universe – so they are searching for answers. But they won’t make the final step and admit the obvious – God created it. When I finally became a Christian, the great question I had was this – how could I have been so blind for so long? Look at a sunrise. There is glory there. Look at a newborn child. There is glory there. We are surrounded by explicit proofs of God. His handiwork is everywhere. The evidence for God is not hidden or slight. It screams out. Infants proclaim it boldly. It quiets the adversary. God is truly something. But when you stand before the majesty of God – you realise something else. I am but nothing. Look at verse 3:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place.

The universe is immense. It is beyond our imagining. In the days of this Psalm – men looked into the heavens and were humbled by the majesty.

Today we can do more than look. We have incredible instruments that help us see into the vastness of space. But this has only increased our sense of insignificance. Verse 4:

What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

I am going to play two short videos to give you an idea of why the Psalmist asks why the Creator God could care about men as insignificant as us? The first video gives you an idea of how our world and even our Sun are relatively insignificant compared with heavenly bodies we now know about. We are so seemingly inconsequential. The second video gives you an idea of how unimaginably vast the known universe is and how utterly insignificant we appear. When you put verses 1-3 together you get this. The heavens declares the glory of God. God spoke and this unimaginable huge, powerful, glorious universe came into being. But the Creator has to be far greater than the creation. And we are but an infinitesimal speck in the creation – so why would God who created and rules over this whole incredible vista – care about us? Look again at verse 4:

What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

Once more – our translations let us down a bit here. The first word translated man is – enosh – mankind. The second word translated man is – adam – probably referring to an individual. In terms of creation – all of mankind is nothing – and each individual person is nothing. So how could such a God care less about human beings or indeed any individual? God has a universe to run – how could He possible care about you?

When you woke up this morning I doubt you gave one moments thought about a particular gram negative bacteria inhabiting the gut of a elderly gorilla in the Congo. Why would you? In the same way – why should God care about you? It makes no sense. What is the son of man that God should care for Him? Compared to a sun, we are a mere speck. Compared to a galaxy, we aren’t even noticeable. Compared to the universe – we just don’t rate. In comparison to the vastness of the universe and the glory of heaven – men are nothing – far less than cosmic navel lint. Even the non-Christians in some sense recognise this. In my non-Christian days, I was a great reader of science fiction. Most science fiction has one premise. The universe is vast and in the vastness of the universe – whatever is out there has got to be greater than us. It just has to be. They have to be more advanced beings. Compared to them we are less than ants. They wouldn’t care about us – and probably wouldn’t even care about our little planet. But here is the mind blowing thing. We know that the God who created this incredible universe – cares about mankind and each individual – He cares about you. Man is in fact far more than cosmic navel lint. He is in fact the chosen overseer of this whole vast creation. Here is the amazing thing. He makes me something. Look at verses 5-8. Verse 5:

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

Read Genesis 1. God created the heavens and the earth. He created plants and animals and birds and fish. But last of all, He created man. Man is special. Man is unique. It is not the awesome stars and planets that are the pinnacle of creation. It is not the great dinosaurs or whales or apes that are the pinnacle of creation. The pinnacle of creation is man.

After God created the heavens and the earth. The unbelievably glorious universe. On the chosen planet – earth – He created something special. Listen to Genesis 1:26-31:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Man and woman were created to rule the world – king and queen of the creation. And God saw that it was good. Here is the order. God – then the heavenly beings – angels – and then on the next rung down are men and women – and then the animals, birds, fish. Now don’t mistake this. It is not that we are such wonderful creatures. The reason that men not apes or dinosaurs or whales are created just lower than the heavenly beings is that men were created in the image and likeness of God. In His divine wisdom, God created us to bear His image, the imprint of the Almighty. It is what separates us from the creation. It is what enables us to go on into eternity. We are the kings of this world. We are crowned with glory and majesty not because of anything intrinsic to us – but because God chose us to bear His image. And because of that, verses 6-8:

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

God created man to rule His creation. The very creation that speaks of the majesty and glory of God is ours to rule. But we are overseers. We are to proclaim the glory of God amid His creation.

This sounds great. But the author of this Psalm knows that between verses 8 and 9 there is a whole heap of theology. Man was created to rule but man sinned and fell. Look at this from God’s perspective. From nothing – He creates everything. Time, space, matter, energy. He forms a universe beyond imagining. Then as the pinnacle of creation – He forms one world – the visited world – where He forms life – plants, animals, fish, birds. And then to rule over all of this – He creates man. He gives him everything. A perfect home, a wife, food, fellowship with the Creator Himself. And man says – enough – I choose to make myself God. It is unthinkable that the cosmic lint would rebel against the Creator. I would have thought God would merely pour forth His wrath and incinerate us – this planet – this universe. But no. Because at His core – God is love – so He did something else. Look with me at Hebrews 2:5–9:

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 8 – but notice how he uses it. Again – he asks – what is mankind compared to the glory of God? But – when he speaks of the son of man being made lower than the angels – this time he narrows the son of man down to one specific person. In verse 9 he tells us that in order to save us – Jesus was made lower than the angels. God became a man – one man – Jesus – to save us. Think of what this means in the context of Psalm 8.

The God who created the magnitude of the heavens by the power of His word. The God who is infinite and immortal and invisible chose to become finite and mortal and visible. He took on time and matter. Then He who exists beyond the confines of our universe shrunk down smaller than a universe – smaller than clusters of galaxies – smaller than a galaxy – smaller than clusters of stars – smaller than a giant star – smaller than our sun – smaller than our tiny planet – smaller than a single person. He shrunk until He was the size of one single cell. He chose to place His divinity in that one small part of His created universe. To become an ovum, a single fertilized egg barely visible to the naked eye. And that ovum was placed in a poor, unmarried teenager who belonged to an oppressed people. He could now hunger and thirst and be cold and hurt. He could now die. It defies belief. And He did it because He chose to make some cosmic nobodies into somebodies. To save us. To redeem us. To put His Spirit in us. And on the final day when we rise again – we will be higher than the angels – and rule eternity with Him. Those words just came out too easily. We who are nothing – we who rebelled – we are going to be made higher than the angels, made co-regents with Jesus, to reign over the restored, recreated, perfect universe forever. No wonder the Psalmist ends the way He began: Verse 9:

O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth.

My God is all glorious. But this time the focus of the glory of God has moved from creation to redemption. God who doesn’t need us – who is perfectly happy without us – chose to lay aside the privileges of deity – humble Himself, become a man and die on the cross for us. This God cares for us. Listen to these verses. Matthew 10:29–31:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

This should blow your mind. God who created galaxies and supernovas and dark matter and keeps it all in balance – has His eye on you. He knows how many hairs are on your head. He cares about the little things of your life. Matthew 7:7–11:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

If I received a phone call saying Tony Abbott decided to have a meal with one of the little people – and my name came up randomly. At that meal I suspect wouldn’t be telling him about my frustration with the traffic last Wednesday, or the various people in the church who are ill – we would talk about the big things – asylum seekers, gay marriage, Syria, Clive Palmer. But here is the amazing thing – our God who created everything – who can do anything – says to us – ask and it will be given to you – you have not because you ask not – so ask. He cares about my traffic frustrations and my sore neck and my concerns for my kids and wife and mother and brother. He cares about my sin and my soul. He cares about me.

O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth.

When the Psalmist thought of this – who God is – how insignificant we are – but how God cares for us and makes us something – the result is praise. And nothing has changed in 2000 years. Reflecting on who God is and what He has done for us – those who deserve nothing but hell – must lead to a response of praise and thanksgiving that begins now and continues for all eternity.

Psalms – Worship In The Real World Adoration

(Psalm 8 September 22, 2013)

Main Point: Our God is awesome. We are only something because we are made in His image. His love is so vast this awesome God cares for us and died for us. Read Psalm 8

� What are your favourite Psalms? Why are they your favourites?

� Why have the Psalms been such a source of comfort and joy to Christians? � What can we learn from the Psalms regarding how we should worship? � How many of the Psalms involve thanksgiving or praise? � How much of our worship deals with thanksgiving or praise? � What ideas for praising God has the Psalms given you? � How awesome is the concept that God cares about you? � Why is that such a hard concept to wrap our minds around? � How does the creation show the glory of God?

In mankind, animals, in plants, in nature on this world, in the heavens. � How awesome are the heavens God has created?

Discuss the size of the various heavenly bodies in relation to our planet. Discuss the size of the universe. How inconsequential do you feel in the face of this? Why did God make such a huge amazing universe when we will not visit it and will not even see more than a small fraction of it?

� Why do so many not see the hand of God in creation?

� How can we use this in evangelism? � What does Genesis 1 tell us about our place in the created order? � What does it mean that we are created a little lower than the heavenly beings? � Why are such inconsequential beings important to God?

� How outrageous is it that such small creatures would rebel against God? � Why did He not destroy us there and then? � What does this teach us about God/Christ/love? � What did it cost God to become man?

How does that affect the way your worship God? � Read Matthew 10:29–31 and Matthew 7:7–11. How does knowing the Creotor

cares intimately for you affect the way your worship?

� How awesome is our God?